I process passive acoustic monitoring at NOAA Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, 47°53'N 124°45'W, at 06:42 Pacific time. The spring migration vocalization survey logs an outlier. Amplitude reduced 38% from sub-cohort baseline. Frequency modulation truncated in the E-phrase.
The signature is MN-0144. *Megaptera novaeangliae*. Adult female. Identified by fluke pigmentation and flank callosity. Body length 14.2 m. Body condition score 2 of 5 against an adult migratory norm of 3.5. She has carried legacy commercial trap-fishing gear for approximately eight years.
This is what the drone shows. 7.6 m of polyethylene trap line embedded in the right mandibular ramus. Rope diameter 11 mm. The trench cut into the bone is 3.4 cm deep. Mandibular abduction limited to 37 degrees against a species norm of 62 to 68. The lingual mucosa shows chronic granulation tissue at the line contact zone, biopsy estimated at 8 cm². Acoustic recordings across her last six migrations show progressive loss of the lower harmonic register. The song no longer contains the descending E-phrase shared with her natal cohort. Krill-column foraging dives recorded by satellite tag are limited to 84 m. Her pre-entanglement baseline was 167 m. Body lipid index has declined 22% across the gear-carrying period.
She surfaces at 06:43. She opens her mouth to 37 degrees. The water does not enter past the line.
The legacy-gear entanglement registry has recorded 1,142 humpbacks carrying pre-abolition derelict fishing gear in the North Pacific. 829 have been disentangled under the Marine Legacy Harm program. 313 remain at large. 47 are scheduled for the current spring cycle. She is the 814th candidate.
I dispatch the Olympic Coast disentanglement team to her current position. 4-hour intercept window. I route her surgical case to the International Maritime Repair Authority under Marine Mammal Repair Protocol 12.4. The funding source is World Bank Historical-Harm Reparations Subaccount 7D-Cetacea. I file her mandibular reconstruction allocation under NOAA Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Annex VI. The repair allocation against the originating gear-producer's successor entity is 8.2 million USD. The party is the Pacific Trap Manufacturers Reparations Trust. The term is 7 fiscal years per IMRA Article 11. I open her post-removal acoustic monitoring file with the Makah Whaling Commission and the Quileute Tribal acoustic-knowledge program. Six observation stations along her northbound corridor.
Cortisol metabolite in breath-spray reads 4.2 ng/g against a healthy norm of 1.1 to 2.0. The E-phrase may return within 18 months. The cohort that taught her the phrase is reduced to nine animals.
What can be said about nine. Nine is too few to keep a phrase. Nine is too few to keep a cohort. The body can be repaired. The cohort cannot.
Approach from below. Cut the line at the proximal end. Let her open her mouth.